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LinkedIn Launches New Company Page Design: See What's Changing

Surprise! LinkedIn Company Pages are about to get a little design makeover, the social network announced on its blog today. But it looks like you'll have to wait a bit -- LinkedIn is only rolling out these changes to select companies this week, including Philips, Citi, HP, and Dell, and the social network indicated the design won't be available for all Company Pages until later this year.

HubSpot's Company Page was lucky enough to be included in the early rollout, so let's take a look at HubSpot's page before and after the redesign so you can see what's in store for your own page once the new design is universally available.

Company Page Changes: General Overview

First, let's review the changes at a high level. All in all, the changes you'll see will affect only the design of your Company Page. In other words, no new features will be added; just the look and feel will be different. Here is a general overview of the biggest changes you'll notice:

More prominently featured page elements, such as Company Updates and the Products & Services sections of your page.

The ability to add a cover-style image that represents your company/brand to the top of your page.

Example Makeover: HubSpot's LinkedIn Company Page

Now let's take a look at how these changes manifest on a real, live page. We've compared the old design of HubSpot's Company Page with the new look.

The Old Homepage

The New Homepage

Notice how you now have the capability to add a cover image near the top of the page, and the Products & Services section of the page is now featured on the right sidebar (compared to the tiny link in the tabbed section at the top of the old page design).

Finally, the "About" section of the page has been moved to the very bottom, below the page's Company Updates. To be perfectly honest, we're not sure how optimized and user-friendly this new placement is, particularly for visitors who are trying to learn about a new company they've come across.

The Old Products & Services Page

The New Products & Services Page

Structurally, the new version of the Products & Services page is very similar. The main difference is in the right sidebar, which now highlights the names, job titles, companies, and profile images of LinkedIn users in the visitor's network who have recommended particular products/services on your page. This is great news for marketers, because it puts recommendations at the forefront and displays testimonials much more prominently.

Below these highlighted users, you'll find any videos you've added to the page, which were also available in the former page design. The page also excludes the short, descriptive section at the top of the page, which you'll notice in the old page design. Again, we're not sure why LinkedIn is making it more difficult for page visitors to get to know the company behind the page.

While the new LinkedIn Company Page design isn't dramatically different and we're a little dismayed by the less prominent placement of pages' "About" sections, the design is a bit more customizable like the business pages of other social networks such as Facebook and Google+. This gives companies a better opportunity to create a more branded, unique-looking LinkedIn page that stands out from other Company Pages. As soon as the new design is available for all LinkedIn users, marketers should be sure to optimize their page for the new design.